Silken Strands
by 1freespirit
Summary: [Oneshot] Set after episode 5 "Rain of Sorrows," Mustang wants Ed and Al to stay in Central for the night, telling them to lay low until they can go to Resembool in the morning. Late at night though, Ed has a favor to ask of Mustang since he can't do it himself, and well, there's literally no one else he can ask. Parental!RoyEd (not the ship) and bits of fluff if you can find it.


Roy was about to pack his belonging's and call it a night, wincing as the clock showed that he was up at a late hour. Grumbling about the next day, he absentmindedly began to twirl his pen around the desk, rewinding the past hours of his afternoon.

 _"We've got no choice."_ Ed's voice echoed. _"We've gotta pay a visit to our mechanic."_

He chuckled. No matter what was thrown at the his youngest charge, he always found a way to manage. His small, subtle smile turned sour when he remembered the way Fullmetal had lain on the street, ready to die at Scar's hand. If he had gotten there a second too late...

His thoughts were disturbed as a hesitant knock sounded through the room. He gathered his paper's, priding in making his desk look decent. He rubbed is hands across his tired eyes as he said, "Come in."

The door slowly opened, and in stepped the colonel's youngest subordinate. Mustang sat up, shocked by the outward display. He half expected the lieutenant to walk through the door to berate him on sleep, not a spunky teen who usually kicked the door with a strong sense of malice.

"Fullmetal. This is a surprise, I thought you were asleep." The young alchemist continued standing by the door, frowning as he saw no one else but the two of them in the same room.

"I couldn't sleep." Ed shrugged. The Colonel's eyes trailed towards the blonde's face, who had rubbed his eye's with his flesh arm. He seemed tired enough, but he was still in his dress clothes. More surprisingly, his hair was down, falling down his shoulders in long tresses of gold.

"It doesn't seem like you tried, Fullmetal." Mustang said, gesturing to the crimson coat.

Ed's frown grew into a scowl. "Well it's better than walking in here casually clothed and barefoot!" He retorted. He huffed to himself and rubbed his back. "The beds also suck."

"The barracks aren't good enough?" Mustang chuckled sarcastically.

Edward's antennae twitched irritably. "I would have been halfway to Resembool if you hadn't forced Al and I to stay here for the night!"

Mustang folded his hands and leaned over his desk. "No, you saw reason to my words when I said that Scar could tear you apart while you were defenseless." Had Fullmetal literally forgotten that argument already?

Ed paled considerably and grabbed his right sleeve, scrunching the fabric with his left hand. "Yeah, whatever." He mumbled, looking away.

Mustang viewed the display with wary eyes. He didn't like the way his charge had just behaved. That much was evident.

"What are you doing here then?" Was all he asked. His jaw almost slackened when he saw the young alchemist widen his eyes and blush lightly, trusting his gaze to fall to the floor. Mustang could hear the faintest of whispers coming from him.

"Say again?" He asked.

Edward shook himself, and breathed deeply. "I was wondering if you could..." He paused, glaring holes into the floor. He turned to face the door. "Fuck, this is hard."

Mustang was left in the dark by Ed's strange behavior. "What is it, Fullmetal? Are you going to tell me or chicken out?" He challenged. The seed was planted and all Mustang had to do was wait for the hot-headed teen to cave in.

Ed furiously ruffled his hair, growling softly to himself. He glanced to the left, deep in thought. He took another deep breath in and turned around to face Mustang. "I was wondering if you could braid my hair?" He let out in an explosive gasp. He dared to suck in another breath as he waited for a response.

Mustang sat in front of his desk with a blank look, trying to relay what Ed had just threw at him. It was so fast he almost didn't catch...

It clicked. Mustang felt his eyes widen and he slapped his hand across his mouth to keep in the sudden laughter that demanded to be voiced from reaching Ed. Too late, as a chuckle, and another escaped his throat, which then gave way to a roaring laughter.

Edward stood in silence by the doors, scowling at his commanding officer. Had he no sense of self control? Mustang continued to laugh with a strong force, barely taking in any air to continue.

"I guess you want me to rock you to sleep as well!" Mustang forced out between chuckles. Edward twitched.

"WELL IF YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO BRAID HAIR, JUST SAY SO!" He retorted. Mustang defused quickly and he narrowed his eyes at his subordinate.

"Is that a challenge?"

"Not exactly if it's the truth." Ed said with a shrug. Mustang felt a tick mark coming on and he motioned for Edward to come forward. "Here. Now."

Ed stared with a blank look while Mustang continued to point in the space in front of him. "I said now."

Edward stalked slowly towards Mustang, sharing the same glare he had on his face. So far, he couldn't trust Mustang with his intent stare and pointed finger, it just reeked of foul play. Still, he walked towards the Colonel until he reached his desk.

"Turn around." Ed slowly obliged, keeping a tense stance as he turned his back to the colonel, his golden blond hair sliding around his shoulders freely. Mustang's anger slowly depleted as he hesitated to grab the shoulder long hair that was facing him. A minute went by, then another. And another.

Mustang just didn't know how to start. Surely he had seen Ed's hair braided many times before, but he had rarely seen Ed braid it himself. All he could recall was Ed splitting the hair three ways, and then...?

"Are you going to braid my hair or what?" Ed's voiced rang from Mustang's thoughts. He snapped to attention and noticed Ed glaring at him from a side view, questioning his abilities of whether or not he could actually braid hair. Mustang scowled in return.

"I was lost in thought, Fullmetal." He spat. Edward turned his head to face the wall, but not before the colonel saw a hint of a smirk.

"Thinking about giving up?" Mustang's scowl grew deeper and he reached over for a strand of Edward's hair, giving it a sharp tug. The young alchemist yelped in surprise, grabbing at his hair with his only hand.

"What the hell, Colonel!?" He whipped his head around to glare at the colonel a second time, but hissed in pain as his hair was still in the grasp of his commanding officer. His fiery golden eyes shot threats to the Colonel, but they still held a small twinge of pain there. Suddenly, his eyes widened with a curious glint.

"Hey Colonel. Are you wearing your gloves?" he asked. Mustang raised an eyebrow at his strange question, but nonetheless answered with a curt not. After he received no reply from Ed, Mustang quietly berated himself for forgetting that Edward was facing the wall.

"Yes, Fullmetal."

Edward sighed in response. "Take them off."

Mustang sat back in his chair, eyebrows raised. Before he could question Edward's motives, he snapped, "I don't want you to electrically charge my hair or set it on fire, so take off your gloves, dumbass."

Mustang sighed in reluctance, and took off both of his gloves, gathering Edward's hair with nimble fingers. His eyes widened slightly by the soft texture of his subordinate's hair and he absentmindedly began rubbing his fingers across the strands. He shook his head and put two of his fingers through the bunched hair, splitting into three parts. Holding two parts in one hand, and one in the other, Mustang froze in that position.

He had screwed himself over by taking Fullmetal's outburst as a challenge, and now he was starting to realize it. He cursed himself in his head as he realized he had landed himself in a spot fit for blackmail as well, and not only that, it was his young charge that could use it against him.

 _I'm not going down. Not with this brat._

He took one part of the golden hair and flipped it over the third. Already he sensed that he had done something wrong and began fiddling experimentally with Edward's hair. After a few minutes, Ed came close to asking a question before Mustang accidentally gave another sharp tug on one of Ed's strands of hair. He grabbed at his head, hissing in pain.

"What the hell?" He whispered behind clenched teeth. He rubbed his head where the strands of hair had been assaulted, thankfully shaking apart the weird mob of hair Roy had created. He sighed in relief, knowing that Ed had not seen his failure.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Edward accused quietly. Mustang silently stared at his subordinate as he continued to rub his head. Covering up his mistake, Mustang answered, "I may or may not."

Free of Mustang's grip, Edward turned to glare at Mustang in the eye. _I'm gonna kick your ass,_ is what they said. But Mustang knew how to trump his charge.

"You know, I can tell people that you came to ask me to braid your hair." Edward deflated immediately, his strikingly gold eyes widening in horror at the futuristic teasing that could arise if anyone were to get wind. And Hughes...

Ed's eyes widened even further. Oh god, Hughes would never let that go. He remembered one time that He had confronted Ed on answering if Mustang was some sort of...of... FATHER figure for him, and this would give Hughes major mileage.

"You wouldn't."

"What's to say I won't?"

Ed leaned in close on Mustang and whispered, "Your willingness and your inability to braid hair."

It was now Mustang's turn to widen his eyes. It was one thing to be asked by Edward to have his hair braided, but to say that he had accepted that favor without question would raise some eyebrows. He pointed towards Edward.

"You don't know that."

Ed snorted in response, looking amused. "Please, Mustang. It's my hair, I felt the way it was lopsided."

Mustang felt his ears go pink and desperately wished that he could fry Fullmetal right then and there, but couldn't considering that he had removed his gloves for the sake of Edward's hair.

Edward sighed and turned around, muttering to himself. Mustang leaned over to hear him clearer.

"I can't hear you, Fullmetal." Edward cleared his throat and stared ahead at the wall. "You might as well ponytail my hair."

Mustang sat in silence as he stared at the back of Edward in a shocked stupor. Was Ed giving him another chance to...

No. There had to be something that Ed wanted from Mustang. Silence? Most likely. But still,

"Helloo, Earth to Colonel Bastard." Ed interrupted Mustang's thoughts again as he stood waiting with his back turned to his commanding officer. Mustang frowned in response to the "Bastard" part, but at least Edward still recognized his rank. Shaking his head, Mustang once again reached for Eds' hair, careful not to tug any stray strands. He swiped his hands across Ed's scalp, raising the long tress of hair higher and higher until a thought occurred to him.

"Say. The first time I met you, your hair wasn't long." Mustang said carefully, making sure not to irk Ed about his height. "What possessed you to grow it out."

Ed's gaze became thoughtful as he continued staring at the wall in front of him, though Mustang knew he wasn't completely staring at it. His head slightly tilted to the side as a small smile graced his features.

"Granny Pinako and Winry didn't know how to cut hair professionally, so they waited until I recovered from automail surgery to call a barber." He said with a chuckle. "When the year was over, Winry didn't want to call the barber because she liked the way my hair looked."

Mustang smirked and just gestured for the hairband on Ed's wrist. He unconsciously removed it with his fingers and handed it to him, still smiling fondly at the memory.

"So I told her it was fine, and that I didn't have to cut it." He finished. "Not that it's helped me in the past." He added with a poker face.

Mustang snorted and imagined a situation where his braid had gotten in the way. "Did someone grab your hair?" He asked while tying Ed's hair. Ed laughed in response and sported an evil grin.

"Well, at least he tried before I clocked him in the face."

Mustang shivered. _Sadist_

Twenty minutes later, Edward had fallen asleep on the couch in Mustang's office, with his new ponytail in tow. Mustang finished as much paperwork as he could before he began to sense the tugs of fatigue spreading through his features. He sighed and pulled most of his papers together before eyeing the young alchemist that prided himself on sleeping on the couch without question from Mustang. Leaving his papers on his desk, Mustang stood up and pulled Edward up and onto his back, earning nothing more than a stir from the tired boy.

He walked through the halls for a few minutes, turning through corners and pausing for breath since the weight of automail slowed him down. A few minutes later, he arrived to the the small room Edward and Alphonse were staying at, cautiously knocking on the door to see if he had stopped in front of the right one.

Faintly hearing Alphonse's voice from the inside, Mustang opened the door and quietly announced to the younger Elric about Ed's visit to the office. Minus the hair braiding of course. Mustang could faintly hear the soft even breathing of Edward as he lowered him onto the bunk bed as carefully as he could, stirring so often to berate his younger brother in his sleep about strays.

After another few minutes of small talk with the younger brother, Mustang excused himself from their room and slowly made his way back towards his office, running a hand through his raven black hair. He chuckled softly to himself.

Maybe he would practice braiding hair in the future.


End file.
